* Information about contributions to open-source projects, participation in research competitions, Olympiads,CTFs, etc.

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Deadline for applications: '''February 20, 2018.'''

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''Applications will be considered on receipt therefore applying before the deadline is encouraged.''

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Revision as of 20:10, 14 December 2017

Swiss NEMA cipher machine

CryptoLUX is a cryptology research group within Security and Trust interdisciplinary center (SnT) and the Computer Science and Communications (CSC) research unit of the University of Luxembourg. Professor Alex Biryukov is head of CryptoLUX and leads a team consisting of two permanent staff members (Johann Großschädl, Yann Le Corre), several postdoctoral researchers, and about half a dozen Ph.D. students. The CryptoLUX group also forms part of the Laboratory of Algorithmics, Cryptology and Security (LACS). This wiki serves as an informal platform for the presentation of ongoing research projects and the dissemination of research outcome, ex. peer-reviewed publications, tools for cryptanalysis, source code of cryptographic software. We do our best to ensure the correctness of the information provided by this wiki, but, of course, we can not guarantee that the content is suitable for any particular purpose, especially if it covers work in progress.

Mission and Vision

The mission of the CryptoLUX group is to define, conduct, and disseminate leading-edge research in cryptology (and closely related fields), and to pass the knowledge gained from research on to students and industry partners. CryptoLUX is one of the few academic research teams worldwide that possesses expertise across the full spectrum of cryptology, ranging from theoretical foundations to implementation aspects and applications. Our mission and objectives are devised in accordance with the three main goals of the University of Luxembourg, which are teaching, research and knowledge transfer at the highest international level. Members of CryptoLUX collaborate with top research groups around the world. Our current research projects cover a wide variety of topics including algorithm design (block ciphers, hash functions, proofs of work), cryptanalysis, communication security and privacy enchancing technologies, financial technologies/blockchain, efficient implementations, side-channel attacks, and reverse engineering.

Emerging information and communication technologies, such as cloud computing or the Internet of things, pose a number of unique challenges related to the design and implementation of cryptographic primitives, which has initiated a large of body of research in these areas. Nonetheless, the number of cryptanalytic attacks (both traditional ones as well as side-channel attacks) is steadily increasing, and many of these attacks have led to devastating security breaches with fatal consequences. We envision CryptoLUX to be in the forefront of an international research community that tackles these challenges and develops innovative solutions for complex security problems based on a solid cryptographic foundation. To achieve this, we strive for a greater understanding of how cryptosystems get broken (or otherwise fail) in the real world, how they can be designed and implemented to better resist attacks, and how they should be used to build secure systems and networks.

We organized ESC 2017

ESC (Early Symmetric Crypto) is a Dagstuhl-like seminar series on symmetric cryptography that fosters collaboration instead of competition. ESC 2017 took place January 16–20, 2017 in Canach, Luxembourg. The program chairs of ESC 2017 were Alex Biryukov, Joan Daemen, Stefan Lucks, and Serge Vaudenay. More information can be found here.

Open Positions, Jobs

We are hiring Ph.D. holders in the general areas of applied cryptography, cybersecurity, privacy and blockchains.

Start day: 1-July 2018 (earlier upon agreement).

Duration: 3 years.

Research area

The successful candidate will join the CryptoLUX group led by Prof. Alex Biryukov. He or she will contribute to a
research project entitled "Security, Scalability, and Privacy in Blockchain Applications and Smart Contracts
(FINCRYPT)", which is funded by the Luxembourgish research fund (FNR) through the CORE program. Candidates
with proven research track record in one or more of the following areas are particularly encouraged to apply:

Applied Cryptography (SK or PK, efficient ZK)

Crypto-currencies, smart-contracts, financial cryptography

Privacy enhancing technologies

Distributed consensus protocols

Cybersecurity

Tasks/Mission

The main responsibility of the successful candidate would be to:

Conduct, publish and present research results at conferences

Provide guidance to two Ph.D. students of the project

Attract funding in cooperation with academic and industrial partners

Your Profile

A Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics or a related field

Competitive research record in applied cryptography or information security (at least one paper in top 10 IT security/crypto conferences)

Fluent written and verbal communication skills in English are mandatory

We offer

The University offers a a three-years employment contract. The University offers highly competitive salaries and is
an equal opportunity employer. You will work in an exciting international environment of a large (>250 people) IT
security-focused research center, developing technologies which will have direct impact on the future.

Application

Applications, written in English, should be submitted online and should include:

A brief cover letter explaining the candidate's motivation and research interests

Applications will be considered on receipt therefore applying before the deadline is encouraged.

Two Ph.D. Researchers in Crypto-Finance, Cybersecurity and Privacy (FinCrypt project)(M/F)

Start day: 1-July 2018 (or earlier upon agreement).

Research area

The successful candidate will join the CryptoLUX group led by Prof. Alex Biryukov. He or she will contribute to a
research project entitled "Security, Scalability, and Privacy in Blockchain Applications and Smart Contracts
(FINCRYPT)", which is funded by the Luxembourgish Fonds National de la Recherche (FNR) through the CORE
program. Candidates with research interests in one or more of the following areas are particularly encouraged to
apply:

applied cryptography

cryptofinance, cryptocurrencies, blockchains

anonymity and privacy on the Internet

cybersecurity

Tasks/Mission

The main responsibility of the successful candidates will be to conduct, publish and present research in the rapidly
growing areas of cryptofinance and/or privacy-enhancing technologies and/or cybersecurity. Depending on the
candidates’ interests the concrete research topics may include:

design and analysis of modern cryptocurrencies and cryptofinance solutions;

security and privacy of smart contracts;

development of new proofs of work or other consensus mechanisms;

analysis of the security and privacy of existing anonymity networks (e.g. Tor);

The University offers a Ph.D. study program with a Fixed Term Contract up to 3 years in total, pending
satisfaction of progress milestones (CDD), on full time basis (40hrs/week). (only this sentence/
formulation is accepted – no variety).with a 2-year contract, renewable once, up to 4 years in total after positive
evaluation on full time basis (40hrs/week). The University offers highly competitive salaries and is an equal
opportunity employer. You will work in an exciting international environment and to carry leading edge research in
these rapidly evolving areas, which will have direct impact on the future. Luxembourg’s financial center is one of the
largest investment fund, banking centers in Europe.

Application

Applications, written in English, should be submitted online and should include:

A brief cover letter explaining the candidate's motivation and research interests

Information about contributions to open-source projects, participation in research competitions, Olympiads,CTFs, etc.

Deadline for applications: February 20, 2018.Applications will be considered on receipt therefore applying before the deadline is encouraged.

Postdoc in Applied Cryptography

Description: The Cryptolux team of the University of Luxembourg is offering a 3 year Postdoc position in Cryptography. Candidates with proven publication record and interests in one or several of the following areas are welcome to apply:

• Fluent written and verbal communication skills in English are mandatory

We offer

You will work in an exciting international environment and will have the opportunity to participate in the development of a large IT security-focused research center (>250 people researching all aspects of IT security). The University offers highly competitive salaries (in the range of 5-6 Keuro per month net) and is an equal opportunity employer.

Applications, written in English, should be submitted by e-mail and should include: